Keep Your A/V Equipment Striaight with NOMIXUPS

If you’ve ever led worship, you know the feeling of relying on a sound technician to keep everything running smoothly and sounding good. Sound equipment can be confusing, to say the least. We recently sat down with Ryan Young, Owner of NOMIXUPS, to hear about his nifty products to help create a more efficient set up for sound techs of every kind (and never use tape again):

What is your background and how did you sense this need in church media?

I started out as a musician and song-writer, and became involved in recording through the worship leader at my church. He taught me a lot of the basics about sound, cables, and gear. A few years later he moved away and I became the worship leader of my church. When you work in a small church, you never have just one job even though you may only have one title. I knew I needed to know all of the gear we were using, and I knew we needed to know how to use it well.

The first part of that means knowing how your signal chain is routed. Trying to sort through the mess of multiple snakes made it way harder and more time consuming than I thought it should be. Then was born the idea of NOMIXUPS.

First I searched the internet to see if something like this already existed, and unfortunately it didn’t. Then I went to some local craft stores to see if I could buy some materials to make it myself, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for.

Things got busy, I dropped the ball, and went back to using masking tape and sharpee like everyone else. Fast forward five years and I reconnect with an old friend who is way more mechanically inclined than I am. I shared the idea with him and the NOMIXUPS idea went from a dream to a reality.

How did you develop your products? Trial and error with your own church perhaps?

Well, the ideas came about from my own need for them. In fact, I still haven’t made all of the ideas that I have. We spent quite a bit of time trying out different products to see which ones would hold. We needed something that wouldn’t fray easily being that this product is intended to move around a lot. And we also thought that a low profile was important. After some trial and error we came up with the combination of materials we are using today. Once I had a prototype, I was able to show it to some local churches. They gave me positive feedback, but they were also my friends.

Eventually I had the opportunity to share my product with the Tech Director of the largest church in my city, and he was someone I’d never met before. When I shared it with him, he purchased sets for all of his Avioms. This was really exciting because I knew it was an unbiased opinion that was proven by his willingness to spend a small part of his budget on my product.

What is the number one way that your labels can help with church media volunteers?

The great part about my product is that it’s easy to use. At the church I work at now, we have NOMIXUPS labels on our Midas Verona 480 as well as all of the stage pockets. When I have to strike and then reset the stage, I don’t need well-trained people that are familiar with our stage to help me reset it. As long as I’ve placed the labels over the correct channels, anyone that can read English can help me! Obviously, you still need someone that knows what they are doing to run the sound, but any changes that are made are done faster with my product.

1. Color groupings allow your eye to look for a color first. Once, you found the color, then you can take the time to read the text.

2. They are legible. You don’t have to worry about sloppy handwriting.

3. They move! This is pretty much the analog version of digital labeling.

If that answer was too long, here’s the short answer: Efficiency.

What is your business philosophy?

I’m a tech director, so one of my goals is to help the church do its job well. Ultimately our connection to God and the community around us is most important. My hope is that this product will allow more people to get involved with serving in the church by making it easy and obvious for the untrained, as well as more efficient for the well-trained.

ChurchTechToday Weekly

Keep up to date with the latest news and updates related to church technology.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

About The Author

Lauren Hunter is an entrepreneur, freelance writer, and founder of ChurchTechToday, where she encourages churches to better use technology to improve every aspect of ministry. She's also a wife to a pretty awesome coach, mom of four great kids, worship leader, and poet.

About ChurchTechToday

ChurchTechToday is the #1 church technology website for pastors, communicators, and leaders. With the goal to provide insight into a variety of topics including social media, websites, worship, media, mobile, and software, ChurchTechToday aims to shed light on how church technology can empower and position churches for impact and growth.